"You eyesores, you trash."
"Just disappear, all of you!"
The cold, flippant voice rang out deep within everyone's soul like a whisper from hell.
Before his words had faded, the mysterious figure wearing the orange spiral mask vanished from where he stood.
The next second, he appeared like a phantom behind a Konoha Jonin locked in fierce combat with an Uchiha clansman.
The battle-hardened Jonin instantly sensed the lethal danger behind him. Without thinking, he moved to escape with the Substitution Technique.
But it was too late.
"Kamui!"
A low murmur came from beneath the mask.
Without warning, the space around the Konoha Jonin's neck twisted into a tiny vortex.
"Urgh."
Before he could even let out a full scream, his entire head was forcibly torn off by that irresistible spatial force, swallowed up, and vanished without a trace.
Splat!
Scalding blood shot skyward from the headless neck like a fountain.
Momentum carried the corpse another two steps forward before it crashed heavily to the ground.
The bloody, bizarre sight brought a moment of deathly silence to the chaotic battlefield.
Everyone was stunned by this sudden slaughter that made no distinction between friend and foe.
"Bastard, who are you?"
A ninja of the Hyuga Clan stared with eyes stretched wide in fury, having witnessed his comrade's brutal murder.
He roared, veins bulging around his eyes as he activated his Byakugan, and thrust a vicious Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm at the Masked Man.
Yet the chakra shock wave, powerful enough to shatter stone, passed eerily straight through the Masked Man's body.
It was as though he were merely a phantom that did not exist in this world.
"Hmm?"
Seemingly displeased by the interruption, the Masked Man slowly turned his head, pointing the mask's sole eyehole at the Hyuga ninja.
"Noisy."
His figure vanished again.
When he reappeared, he was already in front of the Hyuga ninja.
No!
Alarm bells rang in the Hyuga ninja's mind, and he tried with all his might to retreat.
But the Masked Man merely reached out and rested a hand lightly on his shoulder.
"Kamui!"
Another low shout.
The Hyuga ninja's entire right arm, along with half his shoulder, was instantly swallowed by a spatial vortex.
"Aaaaargh!"
A piercing scream finally shattered the battlefield's deathly silence.
This time, everyone saw it clearly.
This Masked Man was no genjutsu at all.
He possessed a terrifying dōjutsu that could make him intangible, ignoring all physical attacks and ninjutsu, while also forcibly drawing enemies into another dimension.
"A madman! Another madman!"
One Konoha ninja suffered a complete mental breakdown as he stared at the hellish scene before him.
First came those unreasonable battle maniacs from the Uchiha, and now an even more bizarre and unpredictable masked killer had appeared.
How were they supposed to fight this battle?
"Everyone, watch out for that Masked Man! Don't get close to him!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was somewhat distorted by anger and shock.
He had only just recovered from Fugaku's bizarre Mangekyo ability, only for an even more troublesome variable to appear on the battlefield.
And this chakra, this sensation of Space-Time Ninjutsu...
Why did it remind him of that student who should already have been dead?
No, impossible.
Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, casting the absurd thought from his mind.
"Damn it!"
Uchiha Fugaku also stopped pressuring Hiruzen Sarutobi, his expression grave as he watched the Masked Man wantonly slaughtering Konoha ninja amid the crowd.
Although the Masked Man was killing their enemies, Fugaku felt an immense threat from him.
This man's ability was far too bizarre, and his appearance was too suspicious. His purpose was unknown.
To him, any variable outside Lord Gen'yō's control was a potential danger.
The entire battlefield settled into an eerie balance because of this mysterious intruder.
The Konoha ninja had to withstand the Uchiha's fierce assault while constantly guarding against the Masked Man, who appeared and disappeared without warning.
The Uchiha side also temporarily slowed its offensive, watching the situation warily.
Only Uchiha Gen'yō was different.
He still stood where he was with his hands behind his back, without the slightest surprise on his face. Instead, an interested smile appeared.
Obito... no, should I call you Tobi now, or the Masked Man?
Gen'yō chuckled inwardly.
The instant that spiral mask appeared, he had known who the newcomer was.
Madara Uchiha's pawn, one of the masterminds behind the Akatsuki, a pitiful man blinded by hatred and lies.
What a clumsy use of Kamui.
Gen'yō watched Obito's fighting style, constantly switching between intangibility and solidity and relying on the timing gap to attack and defend. A trace of disdain flashed through his eyes.
Splitting the two abilities between two eyes seems to provide both offense and defense, but in reality, it has a fatal flaw.
Absorbing objects and making himself intangible cannot be done simultaneously.
Every attack requires him to become solid.
Though this timing gap is minuscule to ordinary people, in the eyes of the truly strong, it is as clearly visible as the bright moon in the night sky.
Gen'yō's gaze was like that of a god looking down upon mortals as he thoroughly analyzed every one of Obito's movements and the weaknesses of his abilities.
"Lord Gen'yō!"
Cold sweat had already beaded on Ōnoki's forehead beside him.
"This Masked Man's ability is too bizarre. We..."
"Ignore him."
Uchiha Gen'yō interrupted him calmly.
"He's merely a self-important fly. He won't be flitting about for long."
His gaze turned toward Shisui Uchiha a short distance away.
"Shisui."
"Here!"
Shisui instantly appeared beside Gen'yō, his expression solemn.
"What does that Masked Man make you think of?" There was a hint of a test in Gen'yō's voice.
Shisui drew a deep breath. His four-pointed pinwheel Mangekyo eyes fixed intently on Obito's figure as he said in a low voice:
"Speed!"
"That Space-Time Ninjutsu of his is essentially another form of ultimate speed!"
"He simply uses another dimension as a stepping stone to circumvent the restrictions of physical laws!"
"Very good."
Gen'yō nodded in satisfaction.
As expected of Shisui of the Body Flicker Technique, he had indeed seen through to the heart of the matter.
"In that case..."
The corners of Gen'yō's mouth curved into a playful smile.
"Go take him on."
"Let me see which of you is the true king of speed-you, acknowledged throughout the Shinobi World as 'Shisui of the Body Flicker Technique,' or him, with his 'pseudo-teleportation' that cheats through dōjutsu!"
"What do you think? Can your blade cut off his head the instant he becomes solid?"